To mark the 60th anniversary of a landmark school desegregation decision, first lady Michelle Obama traveled to Topeka on Friday to address graduating high school seniors. First lady Michelle Obama said that young people who’ve grown up with diversity must lead a national fight against prejudice and discrimination because after six decades, the Brown v. Board of Education ruling against school segregation is “still being decided every single day.” Obama is participating in “senior recognition day,” in which she spoke to 1,000 seniors from Topeka’s public schools during an event at Landon Arena. “It’s really an honor. I’m glad to see her here,” Topeka High senior Corrie Barnes said. “We never have people really professional to come down here.” The White House noted that Topeka is home to the historic case that outlawed racial desegregation and declared education “must be made available to all on equal terms.” Her speech came the day before the 60th anniversary of the U.S. Supreme Court’s 1954 decision in the Brown case, which takes its title from a federal lawsuit filed by parents in Topeka.

She noted that her special assistant, Kristen Jarvis, is the grandniece of Lucinda Todd, a leader with the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People in Topeka in the 1940s and 1950s, the first parent to sign onto the lawsuit challenging the city’s segregated schools. She said Todd, who died in 1996, is an example of people who “choose our better history.” “Every day, you have that same power to choose our better history — by opening your hearts and minds, by speaking up for what you know is right, by sharing the lessons of Brown v. Board of Education, the lessons you learned right here in Topeka, wherever you go for the rest of your lives,” Obama said in remarks prepared for delivery. Jasmine Drone was excited about the address. “My sister graduated last year and she’s like, ‘I don’t remember who spoke,’ and that was just last year. It’s an honor because I’m going to remember this,” Drone said. Lauren Sherwood, who was picked to introduce Obama, concurred, saying having a first lady in Topeka is an honor. “If anyone would overshadow my graduation, I think first lady Michelle Obama would be the person to get away with that,” Sherwood said. “So I’m perfectly content with that.”

Our water fountains aren’t segregated. Our movie theaters aren’t segregated. And our schools aren’t segregated. But in many ways we are still a separate-but-equal country, First Lady Michelle Obama told graduating seniors from five Topeka high schools Friday night. “Our laws may no longer separate us based on our skin color, but there’s nothing in our Constitution that says we have to eat together in the lunch room or live together in the same neighborhoods,” Obama told a full house at the 8,000-seat Kansas Expocentre. “There’s no court case against believing in stereotypes or thinking that certain kinds of hateful jokes or comments are funny. Many school districts, she said, are withdrawing efforts to integrate their students and communities are becoming less diverse as people flee cities for the suburbs. “As a result, many young people in America are going to school with kids who look just like them,” Obama said. “And too often, those schools aren’t equal, especially ones attended by students of color, which too often lag behind with crumbling classrooms and less experienced teachers.”

“Too many folks are still stopped on the street because of the color of their skin, or they’re made to feel unwelcome because of where they’re from, or they’re bullied because of who they love.” The Brown decision, she said, isn’t about the past. It’s about the future. She called on students to battle deep-seated prejudices that persist years after the civil rights movement swept across the country. “Graduates, it’s up to all of you to lead the way and drag my generation and your grandparents’ generation along with you,” she said. “When you meet folks who think they know all the answers because they’ve never heard any other viewpoints, it’s up to you to help them see thing’s differently.” Students were moved by the speech, especially Lauren Sherwood who introduced Obama on Friday night. “It’s absolutely insane. I can’t believe it just happened,” the Topeka High School student said afterward. “It will be hard for anything else in my life to top this.” Sherwood called the address “everything you could have hoped for in a graduation speech plus more.” “I had a little tear in my eye because it was just beautiful,” she said.

……In an underreported turn of events, two Ukrainian oligarchs appear to have taken control of important strongholds in chaotic eastern Ukraine, where the momentum until now has favored pro-Russian forces. The shift is most dramatic in the bastion of steel magnate Rinat Akhmetov, Ukraine’s richest man. Over the last three days, a growing number of steelworkers in Akhmetov’s employ have fanned out in the Donetsk region cities of Mariupol and Makeyevka, and forced out pro-Russian activists who previously held the streets. Faced with the show of force (paywall) by the laborers, the pro-Russians have scattered. The steelworkers are patrolling Mariupol’s streets today.

A change is also apparent in Dnipropetrovsk, an industrial city governed by banking oligarch Igor Kolomoisky, who is paying bounties of $1,500 for the confiscation of rifles and $10,000 for “terrorists.” There, it is pro-Ukraine activists in charge.

It is not clear whether the shift is spreading, as there is almost no reporting on it. *********The major US papers have buried the story on their websites, and almost nothing is on Twitter.******** But to the extent that the momentum takes hold, the development seems important……….”

……..About 20 black people live in Wolfeboro, a town of 6,300 residents in the scenic Lakes Region, in the central part of New Hampshire, a state that’s 94 percent white and 1 percent black. None of the town police department’s 12 full-time officers is black or a member of another minority. Carroll County Deputy Sheriff Paul Bois, who’s black, is one of two officers the town employs part time during the summer to deal with tourists. When asked to comment outside the meeting, he said, ‘‘I’d love to, but I can’t.’’…….

“He and his friends made the bulk of their money by boxing Commanding Curve, a 37-1 long shot that finished second in the Derby. A $2 exacta bet, for example, with winner California Chrome and Commanding Curve paid out $340 that day.”

May explain why he was handing out Benji’s to anybody he walked by!!!!

NORTH WAZIRISTAN, PAKISTAN (TBN): Afghan Taliban says dozens of brief cases stuffed with US dollars are in their custody, which was looted during attacks on American bases and containers in Afghanistan. An Afghan Taliban commander, on condition of anonymity, divulged the information that dozens of briefcases each containing a million dollar were in their custody, but are having security locks.

He said they tried to open it but of no use, for when they cut it or use some other technique as using explosives … a small explosion is heard within the briefcase and all the currency turns black. The commander said it seemed as if some sort of chemicals have been used for the time it gets oxygen it turns black rendering the note bills useless……..

Watching Rev Al from my tape for earlier today. The police chief that used the N word and expletive to describe our President in a restaurant was listening to over a hundred citizens chastising him over his act in a public meeting. They were asking him to resign. What I noticed was that it was Whites who were requesting this of him. My recording ran out just as Rev Al was mentioning this. I did not hear his comment after that, but was really hopeful to hear these people speak up, cuz as a Native American/White I often times feel ashamed at the racism I see around me.

I saw that segment, as well. It continues to be important for everyone in that town to speak up and ask for him to resign. Obviously, he won’t be changing or re-thinking his hideous racist behavior any time soon. He just got caught and outed.

All done. Let us Light a candle for our President and First Lady, as a way of thanking them for the incredible work they do each day for us, and to help with maintaining their good health. We are so blessed to have them with us. Goodnight all!http://www.gratefulness.org/candles/candles.cfm?l=eng&gi=PBO

I love all those pictures – not sure a couple of the white folks in those pictures were too happy about the topic. Michelle Obama will be fighting for diversity for the rest of her life – and she deserves all and any praise for all that she does.